this was easy!! My grip felt much much better and my hands weren't killing me. It was hard to get down in position with the straps up and suit on, it is so much pressure on your legs. I actually didn't think I would be able to do it but the guys worked with me, I pulled the legs up higher on my thighs and once I actually got down in the right position the suit I think helped me get off the bottom.

For deads we will stick with the size 40 suit but my 38 did come in and damn it was a bitch to get into. it probably took about 10 minutes of pulling, manuvering hanging before I got it up. Wednesday will be very unconfortable....

the shirt sleeves were very very very tight and kicked my ass today. The boys were smirking the whole workout knowing what I was going through. By the end of it I had touched the bar to my chest 2x with 205 on the bar, the press up was a bit of a struggle and I maybe got one decent lift the whole workout. We did accomplish the goal of touching my chest in the groove though. Wow it was a tough workout.

hmmm, well the first descents were totally brutal and took FOREVER but they talked to me about not fighting the bar and letting it sink-pulling my elbows in, etc. Putting this along with the other 100 things I was trying to remember actually made it quite a bit easier. I was fighting the bar badly and exhaling on the way down because it was tough once I focused more on letting the bar do the work I definitely had more energy to push at the bottom. At the very bottom of my lift the bar wanted to go towards my knees but I fought to keep it in the groove and other then my first heavier lift I was able to control it all the way down. It hurt to get it to touch, the last inch was not fun but when I hit it good I was able to press off the bottom fairly well.

My squat workout was brutal this week and we weren't even in my new suit, we didn't have the straps taken in yet. I'll post my back workout. It didn't feel as good as last week even though we went heavier. Last week we lifted on Friday night and this was Saturday morning which I think was part of the reason. Right now I am very sore, it is a great feeling because I haven't been getting sore from my workouts for the past few weeks.

Deads:95 x 8135 x 8175 x 5225 x 3275 x 1

belt on320 x 3330 x 3345 x 1

my hands were cashed by the end of this and I have a huge bruise on my side from my belt digging in. This really messed with me during the workout as it was very painful, we moved the buckle to my back which helped with the pressure when going down for the bar.

and as far as the bruises go..either get used to it or do what i and a few of my clients do an switch to a tapered belt. it allows you to get down into the deadlift with alot of lowerback support without getting uncomfortable or being pinched.

in addition to Wicked's advice you can also turn a normal powerlifting belt around so that the buckle is in the back, this helped me to squat down deeper to grab the bar without the big buckle getting in the way, try it.

with shirt185 x 2...I could not touch with this. It came about an inch above my chest 195 2x1 I touched with both of these and they were good lifts! They felt great* and I locked them out.

3-board215 x 3225 x 2

Overall I was jacked about the workout because I was able to press the weight. Lance wants to open at 180 I believe because he is nervous that after the squat I may not be able to lock out that 195. We will try again next week to touch with 180 to be on the safe side. The shirt didn't kick my ass this week!

*although the press was great something popped in my head when I was just about to my chest, that last inch where the pressure built up and I was still holding my breathe. I still have a splitting headache and I have noticed over the past few weeks I am breaking blood vessels in my foredead. This is not hot. Also is it dangerous??

as far as the blood vessels and stuff, i dont know, you know this isnt my fortay. but if the headache persists, i would definatly get that checked out. head aches and head injuries are definatly my thing. especially get it checked out if there is any dizziness and/or nausea involved.

ok sooo I finally got my squat suit and damn is it tight! My legs are pretty chaffed right now and the back of my knees are super itchy from the wraps. The workout started out rough with the lighter weights I just couldn't get down and the suit puts me so out of position (and my position was never perfect to begin with...) That being said once we added some more weight to the bar it was easier to get deeper in the squat, I still need to sit back more and work with the pressure, get down faster and stay more in line...my knees are coming out which will prevent me from getting the depth. I think it was a decent first workout in the suit though.

ok so I had a decent dead workout on Saturday but my belt is really really killing me. I am actually going to call my guy now and see if he carries deadlifting belts. I'm about tired of buying belts and suits but I don't feel I have much of a choice. I have a huge bruise on my side and it is hard and very painful. I only do two sets with my belt on and they were excruciating. The part that bothers me the most is on that second set I hitched the weight up. It was strange because I knew I was doing something during the lift but because I have such little experience with pl and what is legal/not legal I didn't realize what I was doing until after the set when Lance told me. Better to find out in practice then at the meet though.

95 x 10135 x 8175 x 6225 x 3270 x 3290 x 1

with the belt345 x 2265 x 2 (with the hitches) and we skipped the last set. I was almost in tears because of my side.

We decided to open with 330ish and go from there. I should be fine at that starting weight although I have no idea how tired you are at a meet at that point.

So the Arnold last week made my life hectic and I haven't been posting my workouts. All in all this last week has been great and I hit my opened in bench again at 175 on Monday and had a pretty good attempt my last set at 205. Very close so it will be interesting to see what happens at the meet.

As far as squatting I had widen my stance a bit and pulled the legs of my suit up...basically we found that even though that helps what I need is enough weight on my back. When I don't have enough I come out of the groove and the lift is impossible. My opener will probably be 275 which I think is a touch light but if thats the case we can always go up with my second lift.

My last set last night was 385 and this I am told was my best lift to date and was definitely breaking parallel.

I'm very excited and nervous and can't wait for it to be next week!! So do you have to get up super early to start eating or what? Hopefully I will make weight!

Hey Woman, if you are in the 148 weight class, then the only thing you need to worry about is being under 148. If you can do that and eat all you want, then keep eating!! Eat as much as you can in the days before to fuel up if you dont have to worry about weighing in too heavy. I dont think you need to be micro-managing your weigh-in weight for this meet, as long as you make the right weight class.

Well I just reread my post and I meant that my opener will be 375 on squat...

Finished my last deadlift workout and we stopped it a bit short. I felt really good and my last set was a strong 375...I believe we will start with 340 at the meet and depending on how I am feeling may be able to end with 400...I would be physched.

Thank you Lori, I did get the socks today and I really liked them. Hopefully there won't be any issue using them at the meet. They were very comfortable.

So from here on out I will maybe push around some weight one day this weekend and a very light run through on Monday and then rest up. I'm pretty anxious about the meet but I think things will fall into place.

Well I am back after a few weeks hiatus...I needed to take a break from the boards and the negativity because I was upset enough as it was with my performance that weekend. Here is how it went down....

We got the the meet, checked in and started warming up for squats...I was really nervous and puked a few times which is typical for me in events like this. If you have never squatted in a meet it is something else, you are facing all these people, trying to focus on the commands and what you have worked on and it is a bit stressful, at least this first time for me it was. The other tough thing is the timing and making sure you don't have your wraps on for too long or are too rushed.

Well going into the first squat I felt ok, I got under the bar (380 I believe) walked it back. Now if you have been following I have been having trouble with depth, I am not sitting back far enough, my knees shoot forward and getting to depth has been a challenge. This was going through my head as I set up. I get the weight down, past parallel BUT in doing so I lost all momentum and got out of my groove so to say. Those last 2-3 inches I pushed down, stopped at the bottom and when I tried to come back up with it I just stopped. They had to help me rack it, I wasn't quite sure what happened, I just felt like I couldn't push the weight. It was until later when I thought through the squat that I realized I just didn't have any momentum going into it and lost it. Lance wasn't sure what happened either and we decided to stay with this weight, unfortunately I think we should have gone up because I just don't think that was enough to get me low enough and stay in the groove of the suit.

Second attempt Lance said don't focus on your depth just power through it. 3 red lights, too high but very powerful which is what he needed to see.

Third attempt we jumped to 402. Now regardless of me bombing this meet or getting the one white light on this attempt it doesn't really matter. My form is bad and I need to fix that. It was maybe a good thing I bombed because I need to get that in order so I don't f up my knees. Back to this squat. The guy before me takes FOREVER so I am in my wraps for probably a minute and a half which was no fun. I get under the weight, walk it back and sink down...I feel like it is deep enough, I drive up and struggle just a bit under the weight before pushing it through and locking out. Judge calls rack it...Lance thinks I have the lift. One white light...a side judge and then 2 reds. Unfortunately I have no idea why the head judge red-lighted me, I didn't know at the time that I had to ask him right then, I didn't know that was allowed. When I finally caught him after benching he had couldn't remember the lift or why.

Obviously I never want there to be a question on my depth so that is what we are working on. I also was only in that suit for 3 workouts, I rushed my first meet I am sure but now I have a place to start from and I went through the experience. After squat I was devastated....I guess a part of me felt I hadn't prepared enough going into it but I have such high expectations for myself I thought I would be able to pull it off. We have 7 weeks until my next meet on May 30th and I will conquer this suit and the squat.

After squat I regrouped and finished the meet. My bench attempts were 175, 192 and 206 (i think)....the first two attempts I had my shirt on just didn't pull it down at all. This is what we had practiced in the gym. The weight was easy. My third attempt we pulled the shirt down a little....I think just a bit too much because I couldn't get the weight to my chest, I was about 1/2 inch high trying to touch when I let it drop down out of the groove and screwed the lift up. I know I will be able to bench over 200 in the next meet.

On to deadlifts. At this meet I conventional deadlifted, we started at 345, then 374 and finished with 392. The meet was on Saturday and on Thursday that week I was cutting some frozen turkey meet and ended up slicing my thumb good. We has superglued and bandaged it and really with the other lifts hadn't been much of an issue. My first two deads were good, 374 got a little far from my body so not super strong but 3 whites. My last attempt on my pull (which the first 3/4 was better and stronger then the previous one) I felt good and then my grip started to slip. Maybe it was my thumb or maybe just fatigue from the day but I couldn't lock it out and it fell. I don't think I will have any problems with 400 at my next meet.

All in all the experience was good, extremely disappointing but it gave me a starting point and introduced me to the world of powerlifting which I love.